Successful weekend for local cyclists

Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal – winner’s of the female tandem gold medal

Dundalk cyclists had a successful weekend at the national championship held in Mullingar, picking up two gold medals.

First up in the men’s tandem time trial Bryan McCrystal and James Brown went quickest to claim the gold, while in the women’s tandem time trial Eve McCrystal and Katie George Dunleavy claimed the gold. Both of the McCrystal siblings have been involved in the Paralympic programme for some months now and are building towards the Olympics in Rio 2016.

Unfortunately a tragic road accident on Saturday morning saw the cancellation of the Vets and Women’s Road Race Championships on the Saturday. Here Eve would have been amongst the favourites to podium. While in the vets race, Cuchulainn had sent a strong team, spearheaded by the inform Alan Bingham would have hopefully been in the hunt for the team prize.

The men’s road race did go ahead on the Sunday and the field tackled a 171km race, where Ireland’s top professionals including Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin and former world track champion Martyn Irvine, lined up with the best domestic based riders. Early in the race Bryan McCrystal got himself into a break of eight riders that stayed away to the end. With 30km to go 19 year old Ryan Mullen rode away to a solo victory and claimed the national champions jersey. In the sprint for the remaining medals, McCrystal came agonisingly close to claiming a medal, but just missed out finishing in fourth place.

The latest round of the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League saw the six groups race out to Greenore and back. A fast night of racing saw a small group of scratch riders catch all in front of them, with Alan Bingham taking the win ahead of Niall Clarke in second and Liam Dolan in third.

Bad luck for Barry as he crashes out of Shay Elliott Memorial in Wicklow

Michael Barry leads the break in Co Wicklow before crashing out on the slippy roads

It was another weekend of big racing for Ireland’s cyclists and those involved with the local Cuchulainn Cycling Club.

The premier event of the weekend was the Shay Elliott Memorial, a race that has been running for over 50 years held in memory of Ireland’s first professional cyclist and former yellow jersey wearer at the Tour de France. Held in Co Wicklow, the race covers 140km and features the dreaded Shay Elliott climb. The day was not made any easier by the constant wind and rain that battered the riders from start to finish.

Cuchulainn had five men line up in the race and Michael Barry was having a great ride before bad luck intervened and he crashed out of the winning break on a greasy bend, forcing him to abandon. The rest of the riders all came home in the main bunch after a very wet day with Alan Grey moving up in the sprint to take a top 10 position in the A2 Category.

On Sunday the action moved to County Meath’s Bohermeen, where the course was considerably flatter. In the A4 race Alan Bingham continued his recent good form and placed in the top six, which sees him earn enough points to move up a category to A3. In the main race, which was 135km long, Gary Shiels and Kenny Sullivan came home in the main bunch, with Gary taking fifth in the A2 category.

The IVCA League, where Cuchulainn riders have been so dominant over the years, continued on Sunday. However such is their reputation that they are heavily marked and despite being active from the drop of the flag any green and red jersey was very heavily marked, not allowing the Dundalk men to feature amongst the results.

Giro d’Italia to pass through Dundalk next May

The route for day three of the Giro d’Italia on May 11th next year, which will take in Dundalk and Castlebellingham

Next year’s Giro d’Italia cycle race will pass through Dundalk.

The prestigious race will be official launched next week with the BBC revealing the routes for the three Irish stages of the race earlier today.

The race will start in Belfast on Friday May 9 before taking in the Antrim coast and the likes of the Giant’s Causeway, Larne and Carrickfergus the next day.

Day three on Sunday May 11^th will see the riders embark on a 187km cross border section.

They will leave Armagh and travel to Richhill and Newtownhamilton before heading south, crossing the border at Forkhill en route to Dublin via Dundalk, Castlebellingham and Drogheda.

This is the first time that the international event is beginning outside continental Europe.

The Giro d’Italia is one of the prestigious Grant Tours for top cyclists, along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.

Source: Giro d’Italia 2014 NI route unveiled (BBC Northern Ireland)

This week’s Dundalk Leader

In this week’s Dundalk Leader, Blackrock man Kevin Kavanagh pays tribute to his father for his role in the 1916 Rising, there’s news of Cuchulainn Cycling Club’s trip to the Tour de France, while there’s also news of Dundalk FC launching an innovative new community football project.

All that and more in this week’s Dundalk Leader, which can be read online here.